by H. Asher Bolande

BEIJING, March 1 (AFP) - China will re-target its draconian family-planning programme to the countryside to stem population growth and help narrow a yawning economic gap between urban and rural residents, Premier Li Peng said Saturday.

In an annual address to the National People's Congress, Li said the country's one-child policy which to date has applied largely to city dwellers would be focused on peasants and rural migrants.

"We should give priority to family planning in rural areas and among the floating population and combine family-planning with efforts to assist farmers to shake off poverty," he said.

Many couples from the countryside have managed to evade fertility restrictions by moving or through bribery.

"We shall not slacken our efforts in family planning and we will improve the system whereby governments at all levels are held responsible for attaining their birth control quotas," he said.

Under existing restrictions, urban dwellers are only allowed one child per couple.

In rural areas, two children are generally allowed, while ethnic groups such as Mongols, Tibetans and Uighurs are permitted two and sometimes three children.

The shift in family-planning policy is part of overall government plans to reverse the fortunes of China's countryside, which has been largely been left behind by the country's rapid economic progress though it is still home to close to 80 percent of the population.

Oversupply of labour is already a serious problem in the countryside, and minimising population growth is seen as a means of assuring a higher average standard of living.

Per-capita income of rural residents rose nine percent last year to more than 1,900 yuan (229 dollars) but was still less than half of city dwellers' average of 4,300 yuan (518 dollars), Li said.

"Farmers' incomes increased fairly quickly last year. However, the burden on farmers once again became heavier in some localities, which merits great attention," he said, calling for a crackdown on illegal levies by officials.

He also said the government should "vigorously promote" the development of township enterprises, small rural-based manufacturers that Beijing hopes will bring better incomes to people outside of cities.

The rural firms also soak up surplus labourers in the countryside, which threaten to flood China's cities.

Li said officials should strengthen control rural-urban migration, as "this massive flow has caused social problems."

The millions of unskilled labourers who have arrived in cities in recent years have been blamed for rising crime, and officials fear unchecked populations flows could lead to chaos.

The government would provide incentives for migrants "to return to their hometowns to start new businesses" after gaining experience in the cities, Li said, without providing details.

Such returnees have the potential to help backward localities move from poverty to prostperity, he said.

According to press reports, homeward returns by migrant workers has recently begun reducing labour supplies in the boom towns of southern Guangdong province, which previously were magnets for peasant workers.

The government will also increase "by a fairly large margin" financial assistance for poverty-stricken areas in 1997, the premier said, citing relief-through-work loan schemes.

Special loans to assist poor individuals would also be expanded, he said, adding: "Local authorities should also increase anti-poverty funds."

The government's goal for its strict family-planning system introduced in the early eighties to put the brakes on exponential population growth is to keep the population below 1.3 billion by 2000.